"If we look at its depth, there is no possibility of a tsunami," Triyono says of the quake, which struck at 9.42 pm AEDST (10:42 UTC) on Wednesday.

The quake, estimated to have a magnitude of 7.1, was centred in the Banda Sea in Indonesia's east, about 800 kilometres north of Darwin.

Triyono says there had been no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.

The quake was felt as far away as 300 kilometres south of Darwin, in Katherine. It was also felt around the Moluccas island chain in Indonesia's east and the remote province of Papua, bordering Papua New Guinea.

The last quake of magnitude 7 in this particular area was in December 1995, says Geoscience Australia seisomologist Dr Spiro Spiliopoulos.

Indonesia has long been used to earthquakes. But a massive tremor of magnitude 9.0 that struck on 26 December off the island of Sumatra, triggering huge waves, has heightened fears across the country of tsunamis.

The December quake and tsunami left around 300,000 people dead or missing, mostly in Indonesia's Aceh province but also in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Maldives and east Africa.